The Bossier banner., 1887-03-24
THE FORCE OF HABIT.
The Enorn,ous FIy-Wheei and Most Pre-
cious Conservative Agent of Society.

The Enormous ElY-Wneel anu uOSI
cious Conservative Agent of Society.
) s.Habit second nature! Habit is
ten times NATURE" the Duke of Yelling
ton is said to have exclaimed; and the
degree to which this is true no one can
probably appreciate as well as one who
is veteran soldier himself. The daily
drill and the years of discipline end by
fashioning a man completely over
again, as to most of the possibilities OF
his conduct There is story, which
is credible enough, though it may not
be true, of "a practical joker, who, seeing
discharged veteran carrying home
his dinner, suddenly called out: 'Atten-
toni whereupon the man instantly
brought his hands down, and lost hit
mutton and potatoes in the gutter. The
drill had been thorough, and its effects
had been embodied in the mans nervous
structure"
Riderless cavalry-horses, at many 5
battle, have been seen to come together
and go through their customary evolu.
tions at the sound of the bugle-call.
Most trained domestic animals, dogs
and oxen, and omnibus and carhorses,
seem to be machines almost pure and
simple. undoubtingly, unhesitatingly
| doing from minute to minute the duties
they have been taught, and giving no
| sign that the possibility of an alterna
tive ever suggests itself to their mind.
Men grown old in prison have asked to
be readmitted after being once setfree.
In a railroad accident to travelling
menagerie in the United States some
time in 1884, tiger, whose cage had
broken open, is said to have emerged
but presently crept back again, as if toe
much bewildered by his new response
bilities, so that he was without difficulty
secured.
Habit is thus the enormous fly-whee
of society, its most precious conserva
tive agent. 1t alone is what keeps III
all within the bounds of ordinance, anG
saves the children of fortune from the
envious uprisings of the poor. 1t alone
prevents the hardest and most repul
sive walks of life from being deserted
by those brought up to tread therein
Itkeeps the fisherman and the deck-hant
at sea through the winter; it holds thu
miner in his darkness, and nails tn,
countryman to his log-cabin and hi
lonely farm through all the months o
snow; it protects us from invasion b,
the natives of the desert and the frozel
zone. 1t dooms US all to fight out the
battle of life upon the lines of our nur
ture or our early choice, and to max,
the best of pursuit that disagrees, be
cause there is no other for which w
are fitted, and it is too late to begil
again. 1t keeps different social STRAIT;
from mixing. Already at the age O
twenty-five you see the professiona
mannerism settling down on the youn
commercial traveller, on the youn
doctor, on the young minister, on th
young counselor-at-law. You see tn
little lines of cleavage running through
the character, the tricks of thought, tn
prejudices. the ways of the ''shop' in
word, from which the man can by and
by no more escape than his coat-sleev
, can suddenly fallinto new set of folds
l On the whole, it is best he should nc
escape. 1t is well for the world that i
most of US, by the age of thirty tn
character has set like plaster, and wi
, never soften again.-Prof Wllia'
J. James, tn Popular Science Monthly,